A six-branch business in Norfolk has joined OnTheMarket.
Watsons, which did not previously list on Zoopla, will continue to list on Rightmove.
Its recruitment to OTM follows that of Norfolk’s largest agent Arnolds Key.
Nick Eley, partner in Watsons, said: “We believe Rightmove and OTM will prove to be the best combination for the marketing of our customers’ homes.”
Comments (20)
Drip, drip, drip
Amazing what offering £50 for two years get you.
A supplier that adds nothing on a contract with practically zero value.
Why is this news?
It is news by the very definition of news
Anything else I can help you out with today?
A possible conversation.
‘Hello Mr Agent we are OTM’
Hello
‘Tell me, do you have international properties?’
No
‘Ok, would you like to see your properties in Country Life magazine?’
Not really
‘That’s good, we are the third biggest property portal in the UK, by a fair way I may add and your stock needs to be with us as we have a vision’
What’s the vision
‘We will break the duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla making us the only property portal of choice with agents and the public’
How’s that working out?
‘Not good to be honest, Zoopla get more site views a day than we do in a month and Rightmove figures are off the charts’
So why would I want to join you?
‘Because Mr Agent we are a mutual, one company one vote, you have your say on what we do!’
You have been live for just over a year, how many votes have you had?
‘One’
What happened?
‘It got voted No’
I see
‘But it’s our vision that is important here’
How much per branch?
‘£300 (ish) a month’
So £300 a month for a portal an awful lot of people have not heard of, per branch?
‘Yes’
Sounds good, where do I sign
Now I can’t really see that convo happening, but it seems to be….at full rates…why?
Are you for real Danny?
Are you seriously telling us that Zoopla aren’t matching any discounting that OTM are doing? I hope life isn’t too harsh for you in that secure ward you are in.
Either this company didn’t consider Zoopla (which in itself should worry them) or they did and they still went to OTM, either way Zoopla didn’t get the gig and it was a level playing field.
Unlike you as you weren’t probably working for Zoopla then, I recall what Zoopla offered us when they arrived as our saviour (only to then c**p on us by jacking up their fees to mirror Rightmove).
It was cheap as chips and other posts on here are saying they are doing the same now to keep agents.
Gump 🙂 it says so at the top of the post
The reality is, they didn’t need OTM or Z but have chosen the lesser of the two at pretty much the same charges.
Why would anyone choose an additional portal when one isn’t needed and why on earth if you were considering another portal would you choose OTM over Z?
Gumpy
Because by joining OTM for nothing and not joining Zoopla you’re going to bring Rightmove to their knees….with one caveat – you MUST remain a loyal Rightmove customer.
Zoopla are offering very very cheap subscriptions!
Not sure how this post got tagged to Gump’s but while I’m here I’ll comment on that as well.
Alternative conversation:
Hello Mr Agent, we’re Zoopla. Would you like your properties to be on our site?
Mr Agent: I might do. How many properties do you have listed in this area compared to my competitors who are on that new portal OnTheMarket?
Z: 38%.
MA: That’s not very high is it. It was a lot more than that a few months ago. Anyway, do you have loads of other adverts apart from property listings that make your site look rubbish and send valuation leads to our competitors?
Z: Yes we do and we make loads of money from it too on top of what we already charge agents.
MA: Ok. My sellers don’t like the idea of having all this gumpf about what they paid and price changes etc, they think it undermines them getting the best price. Can we have that left off?
Z: Oh nooooo. You see we’re only interested in buyers and tenants not those nasty property owners.
MA: Righttt. Do you still show competitors properties to mine when people click on one of mine?
Z: Yes of course we do, why wouldn’t we?
MA: Mmmmm, I’m not sure that Zoopla is that good for me or my clients..
Z: But we can offer you really cheap fees at the moment to undercut OTM.
MA: That’s interesting but how do I know that you won’t do what you did last time and just screw me Rightmove style in a couple of years time?
Z: Oh that won’t happen.
MA: How can I be sure?
Z: Because we won’t have any agents in 2 years time, we’ll only be doing private listings.
Z: Mr Agent? MR AGENT?
What is this obsession about RM & Zoopla turning into a private listings business? One wonders if those that bark on about it have any idea how to run a business.
I’d stick to your day job El Burro – assuming it’s not writing screenplays.
Never mentioned Rightmove DE but looking at the way Zoopla’s market share is dropping in these parts, assuming they aren’t just going to walk off into the sunset (it is Oscar season) they’ll need to populate their portal with something, why not private sales?
After all if all the online agents are right and they and they alone are the future, why couldn’t Zoopla cut them out and take the listings (and the fees) direct?
They won’t have Countrywide for much longer as they are now a retail business according to the boss lady so all their listings will be on Ebay soon not Zoopla..
If the portals decided to take private listings it would be the last thing they ever did – it’s commercial suicide. Makes zero sense.
Z’s market share is utterly unaffected by Arnolds Keys & Watsons signing a presumably free, or next to free, contract with OTM. To my knowledge they never used them.
Great story bro 🙂
But, and I’m not sure I can make this much clearer………they….did….not…..or….do….not…need….a….second….portal.
As a 6 branch business are you really going to pay £1,800 a month (ish) for an under performing portal that you have no need what so ever for?
Probably not
No axe to grind, no corporate policy dictating the decision, no Zoopla legacy, just a straightforward choice.
They’ve decided to go for a second portal, could have chosen either and went for OTM because they feel it’s the best option.
Of course they have ….nothing o do with getting it cheap cheap cheap . I cannot believe that as a mutual none of their client base is actaully asking questions along the lines of “erm , you know im paying you £300 right …. everyone else is too arent they, you wouldnt just be giving it away at next to nothing” Its quite amusing to be honest that everyone seems to be fine with it but left portals that where “too expensive”
This was covered at the recent roadshows and not one single agent complained about this situation, in fact the support for this approach was unanimous amongst members.
Danny, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give it a rest will you. Is it not beyond the realms of possibility that a mutual agent has taken the decision to promote their properties via OTM as they feel it will open up new opportunities for them and whilst cost may well be a consideration, OTM are not doing anything wrong by offering incentives to attract new agents, its what 99% of businesses do. And as an OTM Gold member since day one, I do not care as its all about increasing agent numbers at the moment. I made my decision in 2013 at the prices quoted at the time and no-one held a gun to my head to do it. So please, for the last time, stop your continuous bleating about the same thing because its really boring. Thanks
Good luck with that request fluter. Many have tried to get danny and the other scratched records to give it a break but it isn’t going to happen.
Let’s have some sympathy for them. If you worked for AN OTHER portal you’d be on here knocking OTM at every opportunity too because you would see that the writing is on the wall for your employment in the long term.
The Chinese water torture that is the inexorable progress of OTM will get them in the end.
Drip, drip, drip.
haha troll-o-lol-o-lol-o-lol-lol-lol…. so funny….. and clearly soooo jealous at the success of OTM
Did you not get a Reps job with em danny, when you tried leaving Z?